Session 091 The return of the Bexley garrison
17 March 2023[edit | edit source]
Early afternoon/evening Wealson 3, CY621[edit | edit source]
Bexley is liberated from the Barons control in exchange for the villages children[edit | edit source]
Ragnum arrives later in the evening having completed his task at the Purple Worm coach house and settles in with Galinndan and Horin. He senses something is amiss with Margarete and Adious - there is an infernal taint about them but he cant place it. He questions Adious about the town, the Red Company slavers, and the callous treatment of the children by the townsfolk but is unable to get any answers. Margarete plies her charms and seduces Galinndan who finds his planned slumber interrupted constantly by her caresses. He wakes feeling drained but pleasantly relaxed.
As day breaks Horin examines the children again and tries to wake them from their slumber by dispelling the magical effect but is unsuccessful other than sensing the effect seems connected in some way to the demi-plane. Galinndan makes two attempts using up much of his remaining energy and finally succeeds in waking five of the children. Horin resumes his treatment of the children and notes they are weak, frightened, and unaware of what has happened but otherwise seem healthy. He also senses something is amiss with them but cant place it.
Outside Mourn and Lanalor have completed their watch, yet for the time of day the town seems strangely silent. Lanalor heads to the north of town to where he saw the elderly couples take their children and approaches the two cottages. At both he knocks on the door to find the defined the occupants scared and unwilling to speak to him. At each house the couples only partially open the door and look nervously back towards the coach house or perhaps the guard tower before shutting it hastily as though they are being watched. Lanalor looks over his shoulder somewhat anxiously himself and senses something at the edge of his perception, perhaps a shadow against the wall? Thinking it a trick of the morning sun and seeing nothing in that direction he heads back to town somewhat disheartened that he was unable to convince the parents to bring their children back to the coach house.
Mourn heads in the opposite direction to the south and east of town and at the very edge notices a cloud of dust rising from a column of troops marching towards the town their banners of the baron presented boldly in front of the column of troops. No they are probably a half mile off he thinks he spots some goblin troops in the line with the humans led by a knight on horseback. He estimates their number at a dozen or more and as they are no more than 15 minutes away from arriving in town rushes back to the party without being spotted.
Mourn arrives moments after Lanalor has returned to the Coach House at which point the party gathers in the building and begins discussing their next course of action. Maragarete and Adious shoo the party out as they make breakfast for everyone and Ragnum takes the opportunity to inform the party of his concerns about their hosts. However tier musing about how to deal with the Margarete and Adious are interrupted having to deal with the arriving troops. Do they fight or attempt to make a hasty retreat to the north with the children and the families they promised to provide aid? After a few moments debate party decides to make a stand at the edge of town and lays plans for an ambush using a combination of their guards to block the road while Galinndan, Horin, and Mourn set up for spell and missile attacks from the woods.
They rush into position just as the column of troops reaches the outskirts of town, Ragnum stepping forward orders the advancing patrol to halt. The leader, a minor noble based on his antique but well serviced banded mail riding the warhorse dismounts and boldly approaches the party. Standing only a few feet from Ragnar the two nightly figures glare at each other as their conversation gets heated quickly. The noble refuses to recognize the parties claim of title over the land or their authority over the Barons troops; turning quickly to his patrol arrayed behind him he orders them to "charge!" and attacks Ragnum and the traitors. Ragnum and the knight engage in whirlwind of thrusts, parries, and evasive moves as Horin unleashes a spectacularly potent flame strike turning the noble into a nearly molten pile of twisted metal, along with three of the patrols hobgoblin troops, though the blast catches Ragnum and scorches him badly.
With a shout of "sorry!" Horin heals Ragnum as the charging troops close the distance quickly. A brutal melee breaks out between the patrol and the parties new troops leaving three of the parties new troops dead. Mourn moves from the brush unleashing a barrage of magical arrows that find their lethal marks dropping as Galinndan fireball decimates the patrols forces. The Hobgoblin sergeant recognizes the futility of the fight and calls a halt. A parley ensues and as their contract was with the now dead noble and they have heard of the parties claim to the Barony of Oleg they declare their intention to leave and return to their lands in the east. The party request a meeting with their clan leaders in two days time, here in Bexley, to which the sergeant agrees to relay the message; at which point the hobgoblins depart in good order, taking their wounded with them and leaving the remaining four humans from the patrol for the party to deal with. The party offers the same terms to the patrol from Bexley as they granted the troops from the coach house. Galinndan divvy's up some of the gold recovered from the nobles saddlebags to appease the disgruntled troops. Their financial interest and loyalty thus secured for at least the next month the collective group of troops and the party head back to the coach house.
Lanalor and Moran spot something amiss with the slavers wagon as they round the corner of the guard tower and come within sight of the Coach House and stables. The two guards they had left to prepare the wagon have been brutally slain, their entrails spilled out by some kind of giant beast based on the size of the wound. Mourn observes the wounds are all to the front of the bodies by something that tore, not cut, through their armor and discerns they were not taken by stealth from behind as first believed.
Lanalor notices a faint purplish red glow fading all around the doorway to the Coach House as he glimpses Marguerite looking back at him through the gate holding one of the children as her form fades away into a now closed magic portal leaving only the empty black interior of the coach house before them...